


cold, dead eyes

by amybri2002



Series: febuwhump 2021 [11]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, blood mention, disturbing imagery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:55:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29360646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybri2002/pseuds/amybri2002
Summary: Remus can’t get away from those terrifying things. Virgil helps to ground him.
Series: febuwhump 2021 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138040
Comments: 12
Kudos: 46





	cold, dead eyes

**Author's Note:**

> day eleven!!! today’s prompt was hallucinations :) hope that y’all enjoy this

It was staring at him. 

Sat in the corner, blood pouring out of its eyes, teeth sharp and glistening white, claws digging into the floor, nails dragging along the wood, making an awful sound, that just got louder and louder and  _ louder _ , until Remus couldn’t even drown it out with his own screaming. 

There were more. More  _ things _ , crawling, walking around the room, bloodied weapons in hand, tall, slender, screaming even louder than Remus, moving forward to grab him, tug at his hair, pull out his teeth, his eyes, his organs, pull off his limbs, dig their terrifyingly sharp teeth into his skin, terrible grins staring him down, malicious, waiting for the moment to strike, to kill, to- 

Remus sank out, and all of a sudden it was very, very quiet. He realised that he wasn’t breathing, and the next breath came out heavy, forced, more like a choked gasp. He was… on the floor, back pressed up against the wall, in- in a dark room, the only light coming from the window, moonlight seeping in. 

Someone sat up in the bed, and soon a light turned on. Thomas immediately screamed upon setting eyes on Remus. 

Remus quickly stood up, trying his best to pretend that everything was fine, that he hadn’t just panicked and sank out to the real world without thinking, that his heart wasn’t currently still pounding in his chest. Instead, he forced out a wide, manic grin, some blood dripping down his teeth for extra effect. 

“Jesus Christ,” Thomas breathed, lying back down and dragging the covers over him. “Don’t scare me like that. What are you even doing here?” 

“I like watching you sleep,” Remus said, without thinking. He tried to ignore how his voice was a little hoarse, from all the screaming, and… hoped that Thomas didn’t pick up on that either. 

Thomas shuddered at that. “Well, could you not?” 

“Nah, it’s a lot of fun,” Remus said, moving over and climbing into bed besides Thomas. Maybe,  _ maybe  _ if he was lucky enough, Thomas would let him sleep here for the night, and he wouldn’t have to stay wide awake in his room, screaming and fighting for his life. Maybe he could get some proper sleep for once, he probably needed it. 

Remus made a mistake in thinking that he’d be able to cuddle up to Thomas, because the next moment he heard another scream, and then he’d been pushed, falling through the air, and landing on a hard surface with an ‘oof’. He sat up again, looking around and trying to get his bearings. He was… back in the mindscape, in the Lights common room. Well, so much for staying with Thomas for the night. So much for safety. 

He scrambled up to his feet, starting to walk back over to the Darks common room, but… stopped. Those- Those  _ things  _ weren’t here, were they? They couldn’t get out here. Maybe if he just… 

Would anyone mind him sleeping on the couch for the night? Surely not, surely he could just… he’d be gone before they even noticed that he was here, just a quick nap for a few hours, run back to the Dark before they even woke up. It would be fine, he would be fine. 

He collapsed on the couch, curling up, still sort of shaking. He had passed out within minutes. 

What followed was the best sleep that Remus had ever had in his entire goddamn life. Too bad it couldn’t last. 

He awoke to yet another scream - this time from his brother, and it… kind of hurt, to know that his own brother’s first reaction upon seeing him was to  _ scream _ . 

“Why the  _ fuck  _ are you here?” Roman eventually said, once he’d calmed down, though he still sounded absolutely  _ furious  _ with Remus’ mere  _ presence.  _

Remus just smirked, sitting up, ignoring his body's screams for  _ just a little more rest, please just another couple hours of sleep, sleep for the rest of eternity.  _ “Am I not allowed to miss my brother sometimes? I came to see you, of course, I-“ 

“What made you think I  _ want  _ to see you?” 

Remus stopped, expression faltering for a moment. But still, he tried to maintain his usual, crazed look. It was a good expression to hide behind, meant no one would ever have to worry about him, meant… no one would ever give a shit. Thinking about it, maybe it wasn’t so good. 

“Get out,” Roman demanded. “The room’s gonna start smelling of you soon, I swear to God-“ 

Remus stood up and sunk back out before Roman could say anything else, insult him anymore. He didn’t have the energy for this. 

When he got back to his room, those  _ things  _ were still there. His heart almost stopped beating as soon as he stepped inside, so he soon stepped back out, going to sit on the sofa in the Darks common room instead. 

They didn’t leave. He couldn’t… see them, not all the time, but he could  _ feel  _ them, sharp nails clawing through his hair, cold breath on the back of his neck, dead eyes staring at him from the shadows, a hand clasped around his throat, heart beating faster, and then a face, right in front of him, mouth opening, tears streaming down his cheeks, sharp teeth moving closer towards him, blood, blood,  _ so much blood _ , blood and tears and  _ holy fuck he couldn’t breathe he could barely even think he couldn’t  _ **_scream_ ** _ he-  _

He landed on the floor, desperately gasping for air. What- What had… 

He was in Thomas’ living room. When had he… 

“Remus?” a voice said above him. Remus glanced up, quickly scrambling to his feet once he noticed the others gathered around him. He took in a few deep breaths, trying to control his heartbeat, grinning again at the others. 

“Heya, what d'ya want?” he said, trying his hardest to keep up his usual persona, he didn’t- he couldn’t… 

“Why are you here?” Logan asked, from across the room. Remus blinked - oh, they… didn’t mean to summon him. He’d come again by himself, out of panic. Huh. 

Remus just shrugged. “Am I not allowed to see my favourite people?” 

Besides him, Roman scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Since when are we your favourite people?” 

“Yeah, this is… odd,” Logan said, frowning a little. “Really, what are you-“ 

Remus froze, voices fading back into the background. One of those things was behind Logan.  _ Fuck _ . 

He couldn’t stop himself before he was rushing over, heart rate skyrocketing, pushing Logan to the floor, staring up at that  _ thing  _ with wide, terrified eyes, tears pricking in the corners of his eyes again. He could vaguely hear voices around him, however muffled, but all Remus could focus on were those cold, dead, blank eyes, soon enough he could barely even focus on  _ breathing _ . 

He felt hands on him, trying to pull him away, and before he could register what was going on, he screamed, a loud, blood-curdling scream, a warning to whatever demon was trying to drag him down to hell to  _ get the  _ **_fuck_ ** _ off him _ , but… but it didn’t just kept dragging, and dragging, and dragging, and… 

He wasn’t in the living room anymore. 

He was... 

He… 

“Hey, hey,” a voice said, in front of him, “focus on me, take in a deep breath for me, please.” He sounded worried, voice wavering a little. Remus blinked, everything blurry, shaky, the world spinning around him, but… eventually he managed to focus, seeing Virgil in front of him. 

And one of those  _ things  _ behind him. 

“Vee, no, you- get away, you can’t-  _ please _ -“ 

“Shh, shh,“ Virgil pulled Remus close, beginning to gently rub his back, grounding him back in reality. “It’s okay, whatever you’re seeing isn’t going to hurt anyone, I’m here, you’re safe.” 

“But- But it’s- you-“ 

“I’m safe as well,” Virgil promised, his voice soft, reassuring. Remus tried his hardest to focus on that. “Would you… feel better if we moved somewhere else?” Remus quickly nodded, and a moment later they’d sunk out again, into Virgil’s room. “This better?” 

Remus looked around, eyes still wide with terror, but… it wasn’t here this time. He slowly nodded, then moved closer to Virgil, burying his head into his shoulder, tears soaking into his hoodie, still shaking. But Virgil’s presence was comforting, as was his hand moving up and down Remus’ back, and his voice urging him to breathe. Remus took in several deep breaths, with Virgil’s help, copying Virgil’s breathing to make sure he did it right, and… eventually, his heart rate returned to normal, he started breathing properly again. 

“That’s it, Remus,” Virgil said, voice soft, quiet. “You’re doing great. I’m proud of you, just keeping that breathing up for me.” 

Remus sniffled, clinging on tighter to Virgil. “Sorry. I- I just-“ 

“I know,” Virgil said. “You were scared, I know.” 

“It’s not real,” he whispered, finally coming back to his senses. “I- I shouldn’t be getting so- so worked up over s-something that isn’t- isn’t e-even… real…” 

“It was real to  _ you _ ,” Virgil said, “it’s okay to be scared. But everything’s okay now, alright? I’ve got you.” 

Remus was silent for a moment, still buried in Virgil’s shoulder, before he drew back a little, moving one hand to wipe away his tears. Virgil beat him to it, cupping his face and wiping his tears away with his thumb. That made Remus smile, just a little bit. 

“Th-Thank you, Vee.” 

Virgil gave him a soft smile. “It’s okay, Rem. I…” His smile faded. “How long?” 

Remus’ face fell, eyes drifting down, focusing in on his lap. “I’m… not sure… few days? A week?” 

“ _ Oh _ , Rem…” Virgil pulled him into another tight hug, and that was almost enough to make him sob again. He’d… forgotten what Virgil’s comfort was like, missed it so much. Virgil always used to come to him when he was having an… episode, like this, always seemed to know exactly when Remus needed help. He hadn’t got that help in a while now. 

They stayed like that for a while, Remus content pressed up against Virgil, in his arms, feeling  _ safe _ . He… 

“I don’t want to go back,” he murmured. “They were… They were in my room, what if they-“ 

“Stay here,” Virgil suggested, before Remus could finish. “You- You must be exhausted, you could… sleep here for the night, if you want?” 

Remus’ face immediately lit up, tears pricking again at his eyes, but… more relieved, this time. Happy. 

Virgil chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He shifted a little, moving the two of them underneath his covers, still holding on tighter to Remus, cuddling him as he began to drift off to sleep.

That was even better than the sleep he had on the couch, the… the best sleep he’d ever had. 


End file.
